brew / rank 959

Install mactop with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Apple Silicon Monitor Top written in Go Lang. Version 2.1.5 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#mactop.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install mactop

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install mactop

MacPorts ports tree · sysutils/mactop/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#mactop

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/ma/mactop/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Apple Silicon Monitor Top written in Go Lang

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

mactop

history

Project history and usage

mactop is a terminal system monitor for Apple Silicon Macs. The project describes itself as a `top`-style monitor for real-time Apple Silicon CPU, GPU, ANE, DRAM, power, temperature, fan, process, and I/O metrics.

Project history

The tool is written in Go with CGO and uses native Apple APIs such as SMC, IOReport, IOKit, and IOHIDEventSystemClient. Its official README frames it as Apple Silicon only, requiring macOS Monterey 12.3 or later.

Adoption history

mactop became useful in the Apple Silicon era because many traditional Unix monitoring tools do not expose SoC-specific measurements such as efficiency and performance cores, GPU frequency, Neural Engine activity, and power telemetry. Its official repository shows Homebrew installation instructions and a public GitHub project with substantial stars and forks for a platform-specific system tool.

How it is used

Users normally run `mactop` interactively for a terminal UI. The README also documents flags for update interval, foreground and background colors, headless JSON output, output formats such as YAML and CSV, Prometheus metrics, and optional menu bar mode.

Why package nerds care

mactop matters to package and systems people because it fills a macOS-on-ARM observability gap from the command line. It is the kind of package developers install immediately after getting Apple Silicon hardware because it exposes metrics that `top`, `htop`, and cross-platform libraries often do not provide.

Timeline

Public repository: Official Git tags start at v0.0.1.
Current README: Documents Homebrew installation, headless output, Prometheus metrics, menu bar mode, and support for all Apple Silicon models.

Related projects

mactop is related to traditional terminal monitors such as top and htop, but targets Apple Silicon-specific telemetry through macOS native APIs.

Sources

https://github.com/metaspartan/mactop
source_facts.package-manager

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`mactop`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version2.1.5

manager updated2026-07-29

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:mactop
Version	2.1.5
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://github.com/metaspartan/mactop
Repository	https://github.com/metaspartan/mactop
Last updated	2026-07-29T17:04:49+02:00
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

mactop

nix profile install nixpkgs#mactop

normalized package name match
Matched by: Mactop

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ma/mactop/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

MacPorts95%